Enhancing Free-text Interactions in a Communication Skills Learning Environment

Learning environments frequently use gamification to enhance user interactions.Virtual characters with whom players engage in simulated conversations often employ prescripted dialogues; however, free user inputs enable deeper immersion and higher-order cognition. In our learning environment, experts developed a scripted scenario as a sequence of potential actions, and we explore possibilities for enhancing interactions by enabling users to type free inputs that are matched to the pre-scripted statements using Natural Language Processing techniques. In this paper, we introduce a clustering mechanism that provides recommendations for fine-tuning the pre-scripted answers in order to better match user inputs

A hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry into the life-world of an altered state of consciousness secondary to brain injury

Aim: To explore the construction and interpretation of meaning of a transitory period of an altered state of consciousness (ASC) in the immediacy of the acute phase of the acquired brain injury (ABI) trajectory in the inpatient, hospital setting from the perspective of the patient and the layperson witness. Background: In the immediacy of the acute phase of the ABI trajectory, the patient presents with clinical neurological sequelae which may result in a transitory period of altered consciousness. Whilst they may return to personal and situational awareness, and orientation, there is a paucity of empirical data which has constructed the meaning of the phenomenon of ASC from the perspective of the patient and the layperson witness. Research Design: The philosophical legacies of Heidegger, Gadamer, Van Manen and Merleau-Ponty, informed the hermeneutic phenomenological study design. Ethical approval was granted by the University of Cumbria. Method: Following discharge from inpatient services, ten participants who self-reported a transitory period of an ASC secondary to an ABI, and eight who were present as the layperson witness were recruited from a United Kingdom charitable organisation. Data collection was conducted via a combination of individual and shared, in-depth semi-structured interviews, to capture first-person accounts of the hermeneutics of the phenomenon of ASC. Findings: The meaning of the phenomenon of an ASC was constructed based upon identification of the existential life-world structures: spatiality, corporeality, temporality, relationality, and discourse. These life-world experiences independently and collectively influenced participants’ perceptions and sense-making regarding the recognition and recovery of the patient’s ‘self’, identity, and personhood along a ‘Quest Trajectory’. This trajectory situated participants between one of two, diametrically opposed narrative positions, defined as ‘chaos’ or ‘restitution’. Throughout the ‘Quest Trajectory’, the patient’s pre-injury, ‘legacy self’ was searched for, and privileged. The construction of the patient’s ‘self’, identity and personhood was not solely determined by the pathological changes associated with an ABI but constructed throughout the complex and formative trajectory of ASC. Conclusion: For the participants of this inquiry, the meaning of the phenomenon of ASC is represented by a conceptual model, entitled ‘The Phenomenological Life-World of an Altered State of Consciousness secondary to Acquired Brain Injury: The Quest Trajectory’. Understanding the narrative threads which construct the autobiographical experience of an ASC, offers a unique and original contribution to the epistemology of the ABI in the inpatient, hospital setting. The findings of this inquiry have implications for practice, education, and research in the field of clinical neurosciences

Proceedings of the Seventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education

International audienceThis volume contains the Proceedings of the Seventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (ERME), which took place 9-13 February 2011, at Rzeszñw in Poland

Determinants and pre-hire outcomes of social recruiting technology adoption and use: an Australian study

 Social Recruiting technologies such as LinkedIn and Twitter have been fast emerging as one of the modern recruitment methods. However, research on their effective usage is scarce and outpaced by organisational practice. The current study addresses this gap by investigating the drivers of SR technology adoption on one hand, and their pre-hire outcomes on the other

"Accountability Criteria and Remedies under Tort Law for Victims of Human Rights Abuses".

The primary aim of this thesis is to identify a coherent legal principle to establish a novel duty of care for corporate human rights violations and environmental damages. This research will examine whether tort and civil law offer better accountability and remedies for victims of corporate human rights abuses. Over the course of the doctoral studies, this study has attempted to carry out an in-depth and critical analysis of the concept of corporate accountability. Moreover, a fundamental part of this research is devoted to examining the extent to which international criminal law influences international human rights law in its use of tort law and civil law remedies. Finally, this study attempts to set out a theoretical mechanism for duty of care as well as a proposal for the establishment of a Hybrid International Transnational Corporation Court that would have the potential to effectively interpret the concept of the corporate duty of care under tort law

CIMODE 2016: 3º Congresso Internacional de Moda e Design: proceedings

O CIMODE 2016 é o terceiro Congresso Internacional de Moda e Design, a decorrer de 9 a 12 de maio de 2016 na cidade de Buenos Aires, subordinado ao tema : EM--‐TRAMAS. A presente edição é organizada pela Faculdade de Arquitetura, Desenho e Urbanismo da Universidade de Buenos Aires, em conjunto com o Departamento de Engenharia Têxtil da Universidade do Minho e com a ABEPEM – Associação Brasileira de Estudos e Pesquisa em Moda.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio